A prior art apparatus for filling a casting mold is shown in German Offenlegungsschriften No. 2,343,036, wherein two hollow bodies are telescopically shiftable relative to each other and a sliding seal is interposed, in the mold-filling position, between a bottom outlet of a pouring ladle and the pouring gate of the casting mold. In order to avoid oxidation of the outflowing melt, a protective gas is fed into the inside of one of the hollow bodies. An annular guard plate is disposed around the pouring gate for protection against splashes of the melt.
Since the jet of melt in its free-fall passes from the pouring ladle into the pouring gate, an arrangement for precise dosing of the existing melt, corresponding to the volumetric capacity of the casting mold, is indispensible. Thus, both an overflowing of the pouring gate as well as the formation of turbulences in the pouring channel may be positively prevented. As is well known, however, such dosing mechanisms are very expensive and require a correspondingly expensive and complex maintenance.